Human rotavirus infection is a major cause of severe diarrhea in infants and young children, afflicting virtually every child at some point in the first several years of life (Glass et al., Science 265: 1389-1391 (1994)). The situation is particularly acute in developing countries, where rotavirus infection is responsible for 20-40% of hospitalizations for childhood diarrhea and an estimated 870,000 deaths. (Blacklow et al., New England J. Med. 325: 252-264 (1991); LeBaron et al., J. Am. Med. Assoc. 264: 983-988 (1990)).
Current methods for treating rotavirus infection are limited to rehydration and replacement of lost electrolytes. No methods for preventing or otherwise inhibiting the infection are currently in clinical use.
There is, thus, a need for an agent or agents capable of preventing infection by rotavirus or inhibiting a rotavirus infection.